NRC infighting goes nuclear
Darius Dixon, Politico
August 16, 2011

 

It's war at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

 

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko regularly faces the sharp end of Republican spears for his work to shut down the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, but his biggest clash appears not to be with Capitol Hill but with fellow NRC Commissioner Kristine Svinicki.

 

Jaczko, a Democrat and former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Svinicki, a Republican, have sparred over everything from serious issues including safety reviews and agency budgets to minor items like foreign travel requests.

 

The tension between Jaczko and Svinicki is so thick that the two haven't addressed one another in months, sources tell POLITICO.

 

Cleanup chief makes homecoming visit to Hanford
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
August 16, 2011

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/08/16/1784241/cleanup-chief-makes-homecoming.html

 

The man who is expected to be the new Department of Energy head of environmental cleanup for the nation wore a tie Monday for his first official visit to Hanford.

 

But David Huizenga owns a Richland Bombers T-shirt.

 

He already is a fan of the doughnuts at the Spudnut Shop and the Thai food at the Emerald of Siam, both at the Richland Uptown shopping center. He also knows his way around Badger Mountain from regular hikes to its top.

 

The Hanford visit was a homecoming of sorts for Huizenga, who is DOE's new acting assistant secretary for environmental management as he waits for Senate confirmation to head DOE's environmental cleanup program.

 

DOE told to take second look at vit plant safety culture
Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald
August 16, 2011

 

Actions proposed by the Department of Energy to strengthen the nuclear safety culture at the Hanford vitrification plant represent a start, but DOE should take a closer look at the issue, said the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in a letter released Monday.

 

The defense board remains concerned that DOE does not agree with the findings of a defense board investigation into the nuclear safety culture of the plant. The safety culture concerns are related to the safe operation of the plant now under construction to turn radioactive waste into a stable glass form for disposal.

 

"The disparity between the stated acceptance and disagreement with the findings makes it difficult for the board to assess the response," said the letter sent to Energy Secretary Steven Chu by defense board Chairman Peter Winokur on Friday.

 

 

Eastern Idaho Community Leaders Unite to Show Support of Nuclear Opportunities in Idaho
East Idaho Press Release
August 15, 2011

Idaho Falls, ID, August 15, 2011- A group of Eastern Idaho community leaders have united to support continued interest in nuclear research and development and workforce development.  Community leaders and elected officials  will be reviewing the recommendations outlined in the  Draft Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future and will provide comments to the Commission.

In the report, released July 29, the Blue Ribbon Commission made a number of recommendations including implementing a stable, long-term program to support research, development and demonstration of advanced reactor and fuel cycle technologies; supporting workforce development; developing one or more geologic disposal facilities; and siting one or more interim used fuel storage sites.

Idaho Falls Mayor Jared Fuhriman noted that the Commission recommendations could have important implications for future missions at the Idaho National Laboratory, for eastern Idaho industries, and higher educational institutions across Idaho.

"INL is the center for reactor and fuel cycle research in the United States, with unique capabilities and infrastructure to support such a research program," he said. "There is no reason to duplicate these capabilities somewhere else when it can be done easily at INL.  Afterall, the mission of INL is to lead the nation in nuclear research and development.  Also, Eastern Idaho has long been considered one if not the most supportive regions in the nation for nuclear programs, industry, education and workforce development. These recommendations present potential opportunities that spill beyond the boundaries of the INL to other reaches of our state.

The draft report indicates the Commission's interest in hearing from communities.  According to Lane Allgood, Executive Director of the Partnership for Science and Technology, "Our goal is to review the information in the report and provide appropriate input to the Commission on issues we feel are important to our region and state."

The draft report is available for public review and comment on the Blue Ribbon Commission website at www.brc.gov . The first opportunity for oral public input will be September 13 in Denver, Colorado.  A representative for the Eastern Idaho group plans to attend the meeting and provide general comments to the Commission. After further study of the recommendations, the group plans to submit more detailed comments during the remainder of the comment period, which extends through October 31.  The final report is scheduled for release on January 29, 2012.

 

The group includes the mayors of Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Blackfoot, as well as representatives from Governor Otter, Congressman Simpson, and Senator Risch.  The group also includes representatives from the Rexburg City Council, Partnership for Science and Technology, Grow Idaho Falls, Regional Development Alliance, Idaho higher education institutions, and area chambers of commerce. If you are interested in how you can provide your input or comments, please contact Lane Allgood at 208-313-4166 or lallgood@p-s-t.org.

 

County in Nevada where Yucca Mountain is located joins Aiken County lawsuit
Chad Mills, WRDW-TV Augusta
August 15, 2011

 

COUNTY, S.C. -- Billions and billions of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars have gone into the Yucca Mountain project. An Aiken County lawsuit hopes to make sure they get their money's worth.

 

Aiken County Administrator Clay Killian isn't giving up on the county's lawsuit to reopen the underground nuclear waste repository in Nevada.

 

"As long as we have the ability to do it, and we think that case as strong as it is, we'll continue to do that," he told News 12.

 

Now, joining up with Aiken County on the lawsuit is a county more than 2,000 miles away, among other parties.

 

 

DOE Completes Disposal Operations In Panel 5 of the WIPP Underground
DOE Press Release
August 15, 2011

 

CARLSBAD, N.M., August 15, 2011 - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that disposal operations in Panel 5 of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) underground repository are complete. Last month, the final contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste shipment was emplaced in the panel, which took just over two years to fill.

 

"All TRU waste management employees at WIPP and at the generator sites deserve the credit for this accomplishment," National TRU Program Director J.R. Stroble said. "It is through their dedication to performing their jobs safely, compliantly and timely that WIPP and the TRU Waste Management Program continues to be a success for DOE."

 

Japan Prepares for Its First Import of Radioactive Waste Since Earthquake
Yuriy Humber, Chisaki Watanabe and Stuart Biggs; Bloomberg
August 14, 2011

Japan is preparing to receive its first import of highly radioactive waste since March, when an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The vessel Pacific Grebe set sail Aug. 3 to Japan from Britain with more than 30 metric tons of radioactive waste on board. The cargo, Japanese spent fuel reprocessed in the U.K., is returning sealed in 76 stainless steel canisters packed into 130-ton containers. It will arrive early next month at the Mutsu-Ogawara port in northern Honshu for delivery to Japan Nuclear Fuel's nearby Rokkasho storage site.

 

Bury Our Nuclear Waste -- Before It Buries Us
Eben Harrell, Time Magazine
August 15, 2011

2 billion years ago, a natural-uranium deposit deep underground in what is now the west-central African country of Gabon spontaneously went critical. In the only known case of a nuclear-fission reactor forming naturally on earth, the Gabon deposit fissioned just like a modern-day power plant. As well as generating a substantial amount of heat, the uranium also produced a huge quantity of radioactive waste products, including around four tons of plutonium. Because this naturally occurring nuclear waste was buried deep underground, it remained remarkably well confined as it decayed over the course of millennia.

 

Unfortunately, nature did a much better job of handling the by-products of nuclear power than we have. Last Friday, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, which was set up by President Obama in 2010 to determine how the U.S. should handle nuclear waste, issued a draft report, and the verdict was not good. There are some 65,000 tons of nuclear waste now in temporary storage throughout the U.S., but in 2009, the President halted work on a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, following years of controversy and legal wrangling. Few people in Nevada or elsewhere doubt the need for a safe and enduring place to stash radioactive debris, but no one wants it close to home. As it stands now, the Blue Ribbon Commission's draft report concludes that the nuclear-waste-management program in the U.S. is "all but completely broken down."

 

 

Future of nation's nuclear waste buried in deficit
The News Tribune Editorial Board
August 16, 2011

Any hope of the federal government living up to its obligation to provide a permanent storage site for the nation's nuclear waste is fast disappearing.

 

The Obama administration has delivered on the president's campaign promise to halt construction of the most plausible option, a repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

 

While the feds mull their options, spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste is piling up in 39 states, Washington included.

 

Last month, a presidential panel suggested farming out the waste to communities hungry for jobs. Never mind the $10.5 billion the nation has already invested in Yucca Mountain - the panel was under orders to not consider the site.

 

 

Don't count out nuclear just yet
Richard Martin, Fortune
August 16, 2011

The summer meeting of the American Nuclear Society could have been a wake.

 

The exuberant "nuclear renaissance" of the past few years -- by 2009, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission had received applications for 20 new plants -- fizzled in the wake of the Fukushima nightmare. Not one, but two conference sessions were entirely devoted to the painful lessons of that catastrophe. In the weeks before, eight separate state legislatures had dealt the industry blows of varying severity. And, the stock prices of the world's largest nuclear suppliers had yet to recover from a drastic post-disaster dive. Not even the posh seaside resort in Florida where the conference was held could mask what a lousy time it was to be in the nuclear business.

 

But as harrowing as the Fukushima debacle has been, it hasn't dimmed the hopes of nuclear technologists, suppliers and manufacturers. It may, in fact, even allow the industry to move beyond the creaking technology of the past few decades, selling state of the art reactors much sooner than it might have otherwise. Some even quietly liken Fukushima to the devastating asteroid strike that doomed the dinosaurs and gave rise to more advanced species.